User Acceptance Testing

Example usage

Before a hospital information system goes live, doctors and nurses — the future users — carry out user acceptance testing in a simulated operational environment. They work through real clinical scenarios: admitting a patient, ordering medication, and retrieving results. The focus is on whether the system supports their user needs in day-to-day work, not on technical details. Only when these tests pass do the users sign off on the system.

FAQ

How does user acceptance testing differ from acceptance testing? Acceptance testing is the general process of determining whether the system is acceptable. User acceptance testing is one form of it — carried out by future users in a (simulated) operational environment, focusing on user requirements and needs.

Who should participate in UAT? End users who represent the real population of users — not just managers or subject-matter experts. Their real workflows are the test scenarios.

Is UAT done in the production environment? It is done in an operational environment, which may be simulated (a UAT environment that mirrors production) or the real production environment for go-live verification.

What is the difference between UAT and beta testing? Beta testing is operational testing by potential users outside the developing organization, typically with the product close to release. UAT is a formal acceptance activity by the future users of the specific system, with acceptance as the explicit goal.

Related terms

• acceptance testing — the broader process UAT is a part of
• acceptance criteria — the conditions the system must meet to be accepted
• alpha testing — in-house operational testing before external exposure
• beta testing — external operational testing
• validation — confirming the system fulfills intended-use requirements
• user story — a user-level requirement that UAT scenarios are often derived from